Alexa sat in a car that was part of a small-scale Union Pacific train with an engine, tank car and caboose. The "956 mini-train," named for the number stenciled on the engine's side, was built in the early 1960s, said Edward Escalciga, a company senior special agent for public safety.

The engine, powered by an old-style side-valve motor, used to haul passengers' luggage before it was converted for parade duty, Escalciga said.

Old 956 was an eye-catcher for the thousands of spectators at the 75th parade, as it snaked from side to side along Montana Avenue. But it was Alexa, excited to be riding in the train, who crystallized the Thanksgiving spirit.

She was with a group of children sponsored by the Make-a-Wish Foundation, an organization that reaches out to children with life-threatening illnesses.

"I had a brain tumor," Alexa said. Asked whether she is OK now, she smiled and said, "Yeah."

Since her diagnosis in mid-2009, Alexa has undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy and, after a relapse, the operation, said Liza Fierro, Alexa's mother.

And on Thursday, Alexa was excited by the drum rolls, sirens and air horns that provided a soundtrack for dancing and singing mariachis, rope-twirling caballeros, prancing Clydesdale horses and floats of all sizes and shapes as they moved haltingly along Montana for two hours.

Floats presented a variety of themes on fun in the sun, including one with dolphins twirling through a glittering sea of metallic blue flaps that fluttered in a soft breeze under partly cloudy skies.

Firetrucks, giant tow trucks, a Humvee, and an authentic Wells Fargo stagecoach parked along side streets and joined the parade flow as their turns came. Marching bands played tunes, and politicians waved as thousands of people lining Montana watched and cheered their favorites.

El Paso natives Robert Soto and Desiree Vasquez celebrate the start of the holiday season every year by attending the parade. Both were spending time with family.

Soto's family staked out a spot on the curb near Campbell Street where the parade started. Under a canopy providing shade from intermittent sun slipping past the clouds, a pot of menudo simmered on a propane stove.

"My grandma's house is just around the corner," Soto explained. "They get out here at 6 a.m."

For the third year in a row, Morris Brown built a float.

Brown, scoutmaster for Boy Scouts of America Troop 727, said the float transformed over the years from depicting a moon landing to showing Scouts canoeing and mountain climbing. The moon lander became a mountain with a sun on top, he said.

"It's a gift of love to the Yucca Council," which serves El Paso and Southern New Mexico, said Morris, who teaches architecture at Texas Tech.

Pat Gordon, astride his horse Trigger, participated with about 35 other riders with the El Paso County Sheriff's Posse. The posse -- created in 1936 -- is the oldest in the country, Gordon said.

When it was formed it aided the sheriff in pursuit of the bad guys, and many of the posse's members are still active members of search and rescue teams, he said.

"We've been in the parade for 75 years," Gordon said, "since its inception."